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“That the people have a Right to mass and to bear arms; that a well regulated militia composed of the Body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper natural and safe defense of a free state, that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided.”
~ George Mason
Wikiquote (George Mason (George Mason IV (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was an American Patriot, statesman and a delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. Along with James Madison, he is called the "Father of the United States Bill of Rights". For these reasons he is considered one of the "Founding Fathers" of the United States.)
December 11th, 361
Roman Empire:
361 - Julian the Apostate enters Constantinople as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire.
Wikipedia Image: Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.
Photo: Byzantine Empire is the great church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (562).
December 11th, 629
Muhammad
629 - Conquest of Mecca: Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 to conquer Mecca.
Wikipedia The Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, is a holy site for Muslims
● Islamic Depictions of Muhammad: A depiction of Muhammad (with veiled face) advancing on Mecca from Siyer-i Nebi, a 16th-century Ottoman manuscript. The angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail, are also shown.
● Muhammed re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Kaaba. From Jami' al-Tavarikh ("The Universal History" or "Compendium of Chronicles") written by Rashid Al-Din and illustrated in Tabriz, Persia, c. 1315. (Library of the University of Edinburgh)
● An angel presenting Muhammad with a city (presumably Mecca). Illustration of the Miraj-name, Tabriz, c. 1360-70. (Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul)
● Muhammad visits Paradise during his Night Journey. Illustration of the Miraj-Nama, Persian, 15th century. (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris)
● Muhammad (faceless) at the Kaba in Mecca. Ottoman, 1595. (Topkapi Museum, Istanbul)
● During his Night Journey, Muhammad visits hell, where he views women being hung by their hair and tormented by a demon for the sin of showing their hair in public. Illustration of the Miraj-Nama, Persian, 15th century. (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris)
● Arab illustration of Mohammed preaching from a minbar to the earliest converts. Al-Bîrûnî, al-âthâr al-bâqiya. (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Manuscrits Arabe 1489 fol. 5v), credit Religion Facts.
December 11th, 969
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
969 - Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II is assassinated by his wife Theofano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes.
Wikipedia Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.
December 11th, 1282
Llywelyn the Last, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
Wikipedia Photo: Llywelyn the Last; Llansteffan Castle, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, south Wales
December 11th, 1789
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly.
Wikipedia Photo: Llywelyn the Last; Llansteffan Castle, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, south Wales
December 11th, 1816
Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
Wikipedia Photo: Indiana Barn Silhouette; Indianapolis,_Indiana, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Colts Stadium.
December 11th, 1917
World War I:
1917 - British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.
Wikipedia Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.
December 11th, 1927
Chinese Civil War:
1927 - Guangzhou Uprising; Communist militia and worker Red Guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
Wikipedia Photo: In 1934, Mao Zedong headed the Long March. The Long March was when the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, forced the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, on a march to the caves of Shaanxi. (colorized); Government soldiers train with modern machine guns; People's Liberation Army attacking government defensive positions in Shangtang; US diplomat Patrick J. Hurley, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek, Chang Ch'ün, Wang Shi Jie (王世杰), Mao Zedong; A Communist leader addressing Long March survivors; The PLA enters Beijing in the Pingjin Campaign and control the later capital of PRC.
December 11th, 1934
Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, by him and William G. Wilson (Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time).
Wikipedia Image: Alcoholics Anonymous silhouettes; Dr. Robert Smith and William G. Wilson. credit Alcoholics-anonymous.org
December 11th, 1936
Abdication Crisis: King Edward VIII abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas and Emperor of India becomes effective.
Wikipedia Photo: King Edward VIII King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Wallis Warfield Simpson
December 11th, 1937
World War II:
1937 - The Second Italo-Abyssinian War; Italy leaves the League of Nations.
1941 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.
Wikipedia Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.
Attack on Pearl Harbor: Battleship Row: taken from a Japanese plane at the beginning of the attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo strike on the USS Oklahoma. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over the USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard; Battleship Row: aerial view of moorings on the southern side of Ford Island, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In upper left is the sunken California, with smaller vessels clustered around her. Diagonally, from left center to lower right are: Maryland, lightly damaged, with the capsized Oklahoma outboard. A barge is alongside Oklahoma, supporting rescue efforts.[1] Tennessee, lightly damaged, with the sunken West Virginia outboard. Arizona, sunk, with her hull shattered by the explosion of the magazines below the two forward turrets. Note dark oil streaks on the harbor surface, originating from the sunken battleships; USS Arizona (BB-39) during the attack; Sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48) during or shortly after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor. credit National Archives.
December 11th, 1946
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
Wikipedia Image: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) logo.
December 11th, 1948
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: (1947 - 1948)
1948 - The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 194, which established and defined the role of the United Nations Conciliation Commission as an organization to facilitate peace in the British Mandate for Palestine.
Wikipedia Photo: Potsdam Conference; Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945. (The Potsdam Conference: held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945)
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine; Arab volunteers fighting in Palestine in 1947; Jewish soldiers at Katamon, Jerusalem; Jerusalem convoy, 1948.
December 11th, 1964
Cuban Revolution:
1964 - Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Wikipedia Photo / Map: The leadership of the Cuban revolution; Fidel Castro played the leading role in the Cuban revolution against Fulgencio Batista (1957) AFP; Fidel Castro leads men in a cheer, Cuba, 1957, Bettmann/ Corbis; Cuban Airlift to the United States (1959 and 1962); Resiste Cuba, homenaje a la revolución cubana y sus héroes música: Protesta-Por Cuba; Che Guevara and Fidel Castro ; Official caption: "Off loading Cuban refugees at the Miami sea buoy", photo dated 4 May 1964; Photo No. 7CGD-050464 #12; Guerrillero Heroico - Alberto Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara; The popularized cropped version.
December 11th, 1972
Apollo program: Apollo 17; becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon. (The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.)
Wikipedia Photo: Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.
The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi).
December 11th, 1994
Aircraft hijacking:
1994 - Philippine Airlines Flight 434; A bomb explodes en route from Manila, Philippines to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to safely land the plane.
Wikipedia Photo: Hijacked Sudan passenger jet lands in Libya, August 27, 2008; Amsterdam false alarm revives airplane hijacking memories, Passengers leave a Vueling plane at a field near Amsterdam Airport after a hijack scare last week that led the Netherlands to scramble F-16 fighter jets, September 2, 2012 Reuters; Egypt Air flight 648 was hijacked in November 1985 by the terrorist Abu Nidal organisation, credit AP; Cockpit section of Pan Am 103 wreckage following a mid-air explosion, December 21, 1988; 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, with 259 passengers on board in 1988; Debris lies in a deep gash through the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, caused by the crash of Pan Am flight 103, credit AP; Flight 175 hits the WTC South Tower. The picture was taken from a traffic helicopter. credit: WABC 7/ Salient Stills; Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City, credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images.
December 11th, 1994
Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
Wikipedia Photo: Chechen_War: War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids on the flatlands vs Russia's overwhelming manpower, weaponry, and air support); Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter brought down by Chechen fighters near the capital Grozny in 1994; Second Battle of Grozny; Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids; Chechen little boy with makeshift wooden rifle.
December 11th, 1998
Aviation accidents and incidents:
1998 - Thai Airways Flight 261; crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
Wikipedia Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP
May 11th, 2007
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2007 - Algiers bombings (2007); Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional court building in Algiers, Algeria and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)
December 11th, 2008
Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Wikipedia Photo: Bernard Madoff and reporters in the streets of New York City; Federal agents and court security officers surrounded Bernard L. Madoff, credit New York Times; Bernard Madoff faces up to 150 years in jail for a $50 billion Ponzi scheme (Accused Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff was charged with 11 counts in securities), credit Harrer, Bloomberg; credit Mary Altaffer, Associated Press.